Could I Delete My "So-Called" Online Life?

NPR posted an article this weekend entitled: “Web 2.0 Suicide Machine: Erase Your Virtual Life” which caught my eye.

The article talks to the founders of suicidemachine.org—a group of artists, designers and programmers based out of the Netherlands (of course…) who want to help people destroy their social networking accounts. The organization claims that social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Linkedin exist primarily to make users think that they are missing out on something (like a life for instance).

And I quote, “[Sites like these] make you more stupid.”

Hmmm. More stupid?

The article goes on to state: “Bye-bye former friends and followers. So long profile pictures and passwords. Hello real life 2.0.”As I read the article I thought to myself, could I do it? Could I erase my online footprint and happily enter a life of social network solitude?”

No FaceBook... no Twitter... no Digg?

And what was I supposed to do all day long?

I’d be forced to revert back to the same person I was more than a year and a half ago when I had to be shamed into creating a Facebook account.

Yes, I was “shamed” into it.

The story goes like this: I was having lunch with a good friend one afternoon when I rolled my eyes at her as she talked about an old college friend she had reconnected with on Facebook. She caught the unintended eye roll and proceeded to tell me that even her 85-year old grandmother has a profile on Facebook.

And there it was.

Even her 85-year old grandmother had a profile. The woman apparently had more online street cred than I did! I started to feel left out, left behind, and dare I say, embarrassed that I didn’t have a Facebook profile.

The shame became palpable. That afternoon I went straight home and here I am. I’ll admit it, I like Facebook. I like to see what everyone is doing, thinking, and talking about. I partake in my fair share of quizzes to make sure that my parents named me correctly, or to prove that my hunch was right: I was Cleopatra in a former life! Half the time, I get my news from Facebook. Remember Balloon Boy? I had no idea what was going on until everyone started posting about it!

Needless to say, Facebook has become an integral part of my “so-called” online life. But the question still remains: Has it improved my life? Or do I actually need to get one?


To read more, visit “Web 2.0 Suicide Machine: Erase Your Virtual Life” on NPR's website.